The first dedicated spaces for the University of Mississippi
physics department were created by Frederick A. P. Barnard in the last
few years before the American War Between the States. He designed a large
building with three domes to hold telescopes, with the largest to be an
18.5 inch refractor. This was never delivered because of the onset of the
war, but the building was used by Natural Philosophy and Physics well into
the 20th century.

Barnard designed cast-iron tablet-arm chairs for the physics
classroom, a few of which still survive in the University Museum. They
have leather seat pads and are more comfortable than one might expect.